Systems and methods for providing improved skip and delay functionality in media assets

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are described for managing presentation of content. A determination may be made, based on user information related to the current media asset, whether the presentation of the current media asset is not likely to be of interest to the user. In response to determining that the presentation of the current media asset is not likely to be of interest to the user, a selectable option may be presented to skip current content (e.g., advertisement content, or another currently presented media asset) and start presentation of a next media asset (e.g., a selected media asset, or a media asset similar to the current media asset).

BACKGROUND

This disclosure is directed to systems and methods for managingpresentation of content. In particular, techniques are disclosed forpresenting an option to skip current content and start presentation of anext media asset, and presenting an option to delay an action scheduledto occur within presentation of a media asset.

SUMMARY

In recent years, the popularity of video on demand (VOD) content (e.g.,via a cable provider or over-the-top (OTT) content) consumed by usershas continued to increase. For example, many users consume multipleparts of multi-part content (e.g., VOD television shows, movie series,multi-part series), such as during a “binge watching” session.

It is often desirable for content providers to present auxiliary content(e.g., advertisements) to the user prior to presentation of desiredmedia content, or to interrupt the presentation of desired content topresent the auxiliary content. However, a user is often not satisfiedwith the way auxiliary content is presented with the desired content. Inone approach, a button may appear on the screen after a certain periodof presenting the auxiliary content to enable the rest of the auxiliarycontent to be skipped. However, such an approach fails to take intoconsideration that the user may be enjoying the auxiliary content, andthus it may be undesirable to provide the option to skip the auxiliarycontent (e.g., because the user may inadvertently skip the auxiliarycontent). In another approach, while consuming the desired content, theuser may be interrupted and forced to consume the auxiliary content,such as at a particularly exciting or attention-grabbing portion of thedesired content (e.g., a climax), which may lead to user frustration.Further, when consuming multi-part content, up-next functionality may beprovided, which allows the user to skip end credits and begin the nextepisode in the series. However, the triggering of such up-nextfunctionality is generally performed at the same point in the programfor all users, rather than being dynamically tailored to particularuser's viewing habits or preferences.

To overcome these problems, systems and methods are provided herein tomanage presentation of content, by generating for presentation aselectable option to skip presentation of the current media asset andstart presentation of a next media asset based on whether thepresentation of the current media asset is not likely to be of interestto the user. Accordingly, when content (e.g., auxiliary content) is notlikely to be enjoyed by a user, a button to skip such content may bepresented, or, if it is determined that the user is likely ready to skipcurrent content and begin consumption of a next media asset (e.g., anext episode in a series), up-next functionality may be presented.Systems and methods described herein are also provided for scheduling anaction, initially scheduled to occur at a first time within thepresentation of the media asset, to occur at a later second time, inresponse to receiving selection of the option to delay the action. Suchfeatures provide an option for delaying an action (e.g., anadvertisement) to a later time during presentation of a media asset, toenhance the user experience of consuming the asset (e.g., by allowing auser to delay presentation of an advertisement in order to finish aparticular scene of the episode).

In some aspects of this disclosure, a content presentation applicationmay be provided that generates for presentation a current media assetand identifies user information related to the current media asset. Thecontent presentation application determines, based on the userinformation, whether the presentation of the current media asset is notlikely to be of interest to the user, and in response to determiningthat the presentation of the current media asset is not likely to be ofinterest to the user, generates for presentation a selectable option toskip presentation of the current media asset and start presentation of anext media asset.

In some embodiments, a content presentation application generates forpresentation a media asset, where an action is scheduled to occur at afirst time within the presentation of the media asset, and where theaction interrupts the presentation of the media asset. The contentpresentation application further generates for presentation, when acurrent presentation position is approaching the first time, an optionto delay the action, and in response to receiving selection of theoption to delay the action, schedules the action to occur at a latersecond time within the presentation of the media asset.

In some aspects of this disclosure, identifying the user informationcomprises monitoring activity of the user during the presentation of thecurrent media asset, and determining whether the presentation of thecurrent media asset is not likely to be of interest to the user isperformed based on the monitored activity of the user. For example, adesired media asset may be selected by the user, and monitoring activityof the user during presentation of the current media asset (e.g.,advertisement content presented prior to the desired media asset)includes receiving a user response to the advertisement content. Thecontent presentation application, upon determining that the userresponse is indicative of interest in the advertisement content, mayrefrain from generating for presentation the selectable option to skipthe presentation of the advertisement content and start the presentationof the desired media asset.

In some embodiments, determining whether the user response is indicativeof interest in the advertisement content comprises determining whetherthe user response replicates a component of the advertisement contentfor a predetermined time period. For example, the advertisement contentmay be associated with metadata, and determining whether the userresponse replicates the component of the advertisement content maycomprise comparing the user response to the metadata. The component ofthe advertisement content may be at least one of an audio component or avisual component, and the user response may be at least one of gesturesor poses performed in response to the advertisement content or an audioresponse to the advertisement content.

In some aspects of this disclosure, determining whether the portion ofthe presentation of the current media asset is not likely to be ofinterest to the user comprises determining whether a currentpresentation position is associated with a segment similar to apreviously skipped segment (detected based on monitoring user activityduring presentation of the current media asset in a current session).The presentation of the selectable option to skip presentation of thecurrent media asset and start presentation of the next media asset maybe performed in response to determining that the current presentationposition is associated with the segment similar to the previouslyskipped segment.

In some embodiments, identifying the user information comprisesretrieving a profile of the user, and determining whether a portion ofthe presentation of the current media asset is not likely to be ofinterest to the user is performed based on the retrieved profile. Theretrieved profile may include the viewing history of the user, and suchviewing history may be used to determine whether the currentpresentation is not likely to be of interest to the user. The viewinghistory may include at least one of the current media asset or a mediaasset similar to the current media asset, and a presentation positionwithin the current media asset or the similar media asset at whichpresentation was previously skipped.

In some aspects of this disclosure, the above-mentioned action comprisespresentation of advertisement content. The advertisement content forpresentation at the first time may comprise a first length of time, andadvertisement content for presentation at the second time may comprise asecond length of time, where the second length of time is greater thanthe first length of time. In this way, the user may be penalized fordelaying the action (e.g., to encourage the user to sparingly employ thedelay functionality).

In some embodiments, the content presentation application may generatefor presentation an indication that, in the absence of receivingselection of the option to delay the action, the advertisement contentwill be presented at the first time (e.g., a countdown).

The content presentation application may generate for presentation, whenthe current presentation position is approaching the second time, anoption to further delay the action, and in response to receivingselection of the option to further delay the action, scheduling theaction to occur at a third time within the presentation of the mediaasset, where the third time is later than the first time and the secondtime.

In some embodiments, the user is permitted to further delay the action apredetermined number of times within the presentation of the mediaasset. Further, when a current presentation position is approaching acutoff time, the content presentation application may determine whetherthe action has occurred during the presentation of the media asset, andin response to determining that the current presentation position hasnot occurred during the presentation of the media asset, perform theaction at the cutoff time.

In some aspects of this disclosure, respective actions are scheduled tobe presented at respective time intervals within the presentation of themedia asset, and for each time interval of the respective timeintervals, an option to delay the presentation of the respective actionis presented. That is, over the course of the presentation of the mediaasset, an opportunity to delay presentation of each advertisement may beprovided to the user.

In some embodiments, the content presentation application may compute aprobability of user consumption of the advertisement content during asegment of the presentation of the media asset, where the timing of theaction is scheduled based on the computed probability. For example, auser profile of a user that is to consume the media asset is identified,and the probability is computed based on a comparison of the userprofile to at least one of a story line or subject of a segment of themedia asset, characters or objects of the segment, a background of thesegment, audio or annotations of the segment, or other details of thesegment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the present disclosurewill be apparent upon consideration of the following detaileddescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich like reference characters refer to like parts throughout, and inwhich:

FIG. 1A shows an example of presenting a selectable option to skippresentation of a current media asset and start presentation of a nextmedia asset, in accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure;

FIG. 1B shows an example of presenting a selectable option to skippresentation of a current media asset and start presentation of a nextmedia asset, in accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an example of scheduling an action to occur at a latersecond time within the presentation of a media asset, in accordance withsome embodiments of this disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of illustrative user equipment, in accordancewith some embodiments of this disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative system, in accordance withsome embodiments of this disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process for generatingfor presentation a selectable option to skip presentation of the currentmedia asset and start presentation of a next media asset, in accordancewith some embodiments of this disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process for generatingfor presentation a selectable option to skip presentation of the currentmedia asset and start presentation of a next media asset, in accordancewith some embodiments of this disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process for schedulingan action to occur at a later second time within the presentation of amedia asset, in accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process for schedulingone or more actions to occur within the presentation of a media asset,in accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1A-1B depict illustrative processes of presenting an option toskip current content and start presentation of a next media asset. FIG.1A shows an exemplary display screen 100 (e.g., provided by a contentpresentation application, implemented on user equipment) that isprovided on a display of a user device, presenting one or more mediaassets 102, 104, 106 for selection by the user retrieved from mediacontent source 101. As referred to herein, the term “media asset” shouldbe understood to mean an electronically consumable user asset, such astelevision programming, as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demandprograms (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g.,streaming content, downloadable content, webcasts, etc.), video clips,audio, playlists, websites, articles, electronic books, blogs, socialmedia, applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia, and/orcombination of the same. As shown in FIG. 1A, selection of media asset102, titled “Ice Man,” is received from the user. Prior to presentingthe selected media asset to the user, it may be desirable to presentother media assets or content (e.g., advertisement content) prior topresenting the media asset desired by the user. For instance, the“FastTube” service provider depicted in FIG. 1A may provide content freeof charge to users, but may require users to view auxiliary content(e.g., advertisement content) in order to generate revenue.Alternatively, a service provider may be paid a subscription fee by auser, and additionally present advertisements to a user (e.g., a videoon demand via a cable provider or OTT platform). The contentpresentation application may reference advertisement content database112 when generating advertisement content. For example, display screen108 shows advertisement content 110 depicting an actor and a mobiledevice with musical notes indicating audio is being played as part ofthe advertisement. Those of skill in the art will appreciate thatadvertisement content may be an advertisement concerning any product orservice (e.g., an advertisement for a new mobile device, a trailer for anew movie or television show, etc.).

In the example of FIG. 1A, the content presentation application mayselectively generate for presentation skip ad button 116 on displayscreen 108, based on a determination of whether a user is not likely tobe interested in the advertisement content. For example, the contentpresentation application may identify user information associated withthe user consuming the ad (e.g., information 114 associated with aprofile of the user with the service provider and/or viewing history ofthe user; information retrieved from various other devices, such asinternet-of-things devices, associated with the user; a detected userresponse to, or user engagement with, the advertisement detected bycamera 118 and/or microphone 120, etc.). The content presentationapplication may then determine, based on the user information, whetherthe presentation of the current media asset is not likely to be ofinterest to the user. In the example of FIG. 1A, in response todetermining that the presentation of the current media asset is notlikely to be of interest to the user, the content presentationapplication generates for presentation selectable option 116, enablingthe user to skip presentation of a remainder of the current media asset(e.g., advertisement content 110) and start presentation of a next mediaasset (e.g., the selected media asset 102). On the other hand, if thecontent presentation application had determined that the user is likelyto be interested in the current advertisement content 110, theselectable option 116 to skip the advertisement may not be presented tothe user.

In the example of FIG. 1B, the selectable option may be “up-nextfunctionality,” which enables skipping presentation of a current mediaasset (e.g., an episode of a television series, such as “Seinfeld,”season 1, episode 2) and starting presentation of a next media asset(e.g., the next episode of “Seinfeld,” such as season 1, episode 3).Such up-next functionality (e.g., selectable option 125) may betriggered based on user information. In the example of FIG. 1B, theepisode may comprise a plurality of segments including opening credits122; a plot 124 which may include one or more storylines; a stand-up act126, such as performed by the actor Jerry Seinfeld immediately prior toclosing credits 128; and the closing credits 128. Once the presentationof the current media asset reaches the stand-up act 126 portion of theepisode, the content presentation application may determine whether theuser is not likely to be interested in such segment (e.g., based on userviewing history 127). For example, other episodes of the series may alsoinclude a similar stand-up act performed immediately prior to theclosing credits, and the content presentation application may determinethat the user has previously viewed the currently presented episode, orone or more other episodes of the series (or other similar mediacontent). In such circumstance, if the content presentation applicationdetermines that the user has previously skipped the stand-up act (orsimilar content) in the previously viewed episodes, the contentpresentation application may determine that the user is not likely to beinterested in the stand-up act currently being presented. In suchinstance, the content presentation application may generate forpresentation up-next selectable option 125, which enables the user toskip to a next media asset (e.g., the next episode 130 in season 1 of“Seinfeld”). Alternatively, the content presentation application maydetermine whether to present the selectable option 125 based onmonitoring user activity during a current session of the presentation ofthe current media asset (e.g., if the user has skipped portions of themedia asset during the current session in which an actor performs asong, the option 125 may be presented during a current or upcomingsimilar scene).

The user selection of the up-next option 125 may be received via variousmethods (e.g., remote control, voice input, touch-screen input, etc.).The user may affirmatively halt or initiate the up-next functionality(e.g., via voice input). In some embodiments, in the absence of userinstruction to the contrary, the next episode may automatically begin(e.g., when the countdown timer runs out), or the next episode will notbegin without affirmative user instruction. In some embodiments, theselectable option 125 may be generated for presentation to the user onlyif the current segment is the final segment of the media asset prior tothe closing credits.

The viewing history 127 may be maintained for various users (e.g., instorage 308, FIG. 3), and may associate points within a media assetpreviously skipped by the user (e.g., fast-forwarded, or a point atwhich the user terminated presentation of the media asset withoutcompleting presentation of the media asset) with particular scenes orstorylines of the media asset. For example, metadata associated with themedia asset may indicate that the stand-up scene of an episode of“Seinfeld” (e.g., immediately before the closing credits) commences at aparticular time during presentation of the media asset (e.g., at 20:45into the episode). The content presentation application may detect thatthe user elected to skip this scene in this particular episode, and maystore this association in viewing history 127 for later retrieval (e.g.,when a similar scene appears in a later episode of “Seinfeld” viewed bythe user). The content presentation application may store suchassociations in the viewing history of the user regardless of the devicebeing used to access the media asset.

In another aspect of this disclosure, FIG. 2 shows an example ofdelaying the occurrence of an action (e.g., presentation ofadvertisement content 203) within the presentation of current mediaasset 201, where such action is scheduled to interrupt the presentationof the media asset 201. The user may be currently viewing media asset201 (e.g., provided by a video-on-demand provider) having a start time209, and where icon 202 indicates a current presentation position of themedia asset 201. An action may be scheduled to occur at first time 204within the presentation of the media asset 201. When the contentpresentation application determines that the first time 204 isapproaching (e.g., that first time 204 is within a predetermined timeperiod from the current presentation position 202), the user may benotified and provided with a selectable option 205 to delay the actionto a later second time 207 within the presentation of the media asset.The delay may be associated with a specified delay time (e.g., set bythe user or advertisement provider) to delay the advertisement content.If user selection of option 205 is not received before the scheduledtime of action 203, the action (e.g., presentation of advertisementcontent) 203 may occur at the scheduled first time 204.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, in response to receivingselection of the option 205 to delay the action 203, the action 203 maybe scheduled to occur at the second time 207 within the presentation ofthe media asset 201. In this way the user is able to delay theoccurrence of the action in order to continue viewing the current mediaasset (e.g., in this case, to watch the automobile depicted in the mediaasset 201 move past the palm tree). This may be desirable for a user ina circumstance where the current presentation position 202 of the mediaasset 201 is a particularly interesting to the user (e.g., a climax ofthe plot of the media asset). In some embodiments, an opportunity tofurther delay the action 203 (e.g., to a later time than second time207) may be provided to the user. For example, such further delay optionmay be presented a predetermined time after the initial delay option isselected. The action (e.g., presentation of advertisement content 203)may be required to occur in time interval 208, which may be bounded byfirst time 204 and cutoff time 206. In some embodiments, an opportunityto further delay the occurrence of the action 203 may not be presentedif a delay time of such further delay would cause the action to bescheduled to occur after the cutoff time 206. Alternatively, theoccurrence of the action 203 may be scheduled to automatically occur atthe cutoff time 206.

FIGS. 3-4 show exemplary devices, systems, servers and related hardwarefor presenting an option to skip current content and start presentationof a next media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of thisdisclosure, and/or presenting an option to delay an action scheduled tooccur within presentation of a media asset, in accordance with someembodiments of this disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, user equipmentdevice 300 may receive content and data via input/output (hereinafter“I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g., broadcastprogramming, on-demand programming, Internet content, content availableover a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), and/or othercontent) and data to control circuitry 304, which includes processingcircuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may be used to sendand receive commands, requests, and other suitable data using I/O path302.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a content presentation application stored in memory(i.e., storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may beinstructed by the content presentation application to perform thefunctions discussed above and below. For example, the contentpresentation application may provide instructions to control circuitry304 to generate the above-described displays. In some implementations,any action performed by control circuitry 304 may be based oninstructions received from the content presentation application.

In client/server-based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a contentpresentation server (e.g., server 416 in FIG. 4) or other networks orservers. The instructions for carrying out the above-mentionedfunctionality may be stored on the content presentation server.Communications circuitry may include a cable modem, an integratedservices digital network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL)modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card, or a wireless modem forcommunications with other equipment, or any other suitablecommunications circuitry. Such communications may involve the Internetor any other suitable communications networks or paths (which isdescribed in more detail in connection with FIG. 4). In addition,communications circuitry may include circuitry that enables peer-to-peercommunication of user equipment devices, or communication of userequipment devices in locations remote from each other (described in moredetail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called apersonal video recorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storagedevices, gaming consoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed orremovable storage devices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage308 may be used to store various types of content described herein aswell as content data and content application data that are describedabove. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch a boot-uproutine and other instructions). Cloud-based storage may be used tosupplement storage 308 or instead of storage 308.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand down-converting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment device 400. Control circuitry 304 may also includedigital-to-analog converter circuitry and analog-to-digital convertercircuitry for converting between digital and analog signals. The tuningand encoding circuitry may be used by the user equipment device toreceive and to display, to play, or to record content. In someembodiments, the control circuitry may include an HD antenna.

In one embodiment, speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with otherelements of user equipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. Theaudio and other content displayed on display 312 may be played throughspeakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers314.

The content presentation application may be implemented using anysuitable architecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly implemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 308 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 310. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 310 indicates that anup/down button was selected. User input interface 310 may be anysuitable user interface (e.g., a remote control, mouse, trackball,keypad, keyboard, touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick,microphone, voice recognition interface, or other user inputinterfaces). Display 312 may be provided as a stand-alone device orintegrated with other elements of each one of user equipment device 300and user equipment system 301. For example, display 312 may be atouchscreen or touch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, userinput interface 310 may be integrated with or combined with display 312.

In some embodiments, the content presentation application is aclient/server-based application. Data for use by a thick or thin clientimplemented on user equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand byissuing requests to a server remote to the user equipment device 300. Inone example of a client/server-based content presentation application,control circuitry 304 runs a web browser that interprets web pagesprovided by a remote server. For example, the remote server may storethe instructions for the application in a storage device. The remoteserver may process the stored instructions using circuitry (e.g.,control circuitry 304) and generate the displays discussed above andbelow. The client device may receive the displays generated by theremote server and may display the content of the displays locally onequipment device 300. This way, the processing of the instructions isperformed remotely by the server while the resulting displays areprovided locally on equipment device 300. Equipment device 300 mayreceive inputs from the user via input interface 310 and transmit thoseinputs to the remote server for processing and generating thecorresponding displays. For example, equipment device 300 may transmit acommunication to the remote server indicating that an up/down button wasselected via input interface 310. The remote server may processinstructions in accordance with that input and generate a display of theapplication corresponding to the input (e.g., a display that moves acursor up/down). The generated display is then transmitted to equipmentdevice 300 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the content presentation application is downloadedand interpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine(run by control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the application maybe encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, theapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the application may be, for example, encoded andtransmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio and videopackets of a program.

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative block diagram of system 400 for presentingan option to skip current content and start presentation of a next mediaasset, in accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure, and/orpresenting an option to delay an action scheduled to occur withinpresentation of a media asset, in accordance with some embodiments ofthis disclosure. System 400 may include a user equipment device (e.g.,user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wirelessuser communications device 406), content presentation server 416, mediacontent source 420, advertisement content database 422, and user profileinformation database 424. Although FIG. 4 shows media content source420, advertisement content database 422, and user profile informationdatabase 424 as individual components and as separate from contentpresentation server 416, in some embodiments, any of those componentsmay be combined and/or integrated with content presentation server 416.Media content source 101, advertisement content database 112, and userprofile information database 114 may be implemented as media contentsource 420, advertisement content database 422, and user profileinformation database 424, respectively. Content presentation server 416may be communicatively coupled to a user equipment device by way ofcommunications network 414 (e.g., via communications path 418) and maybe communicatively coupled to media content source 420, advertisementcontent database 422, and user profile information database 424, whichmay be included in, or separate from, communications network 414.Content presentation server 416 may be configured to retrieve contentfrom media content source 420 for consumption at a user equipment device(e.g., user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406), retrieve advertisement contentfrom advertisement content database 422 to be presented prior to, orduring, presentation of the desired content (e.g., in the example ofFIG. 1A and FIG. 2), and retrieve user profile information from userprofile information database 424 (e.g., to assist in determining whetherto present skip-ad button 116 in FIG. 1A or up-next button 125 in FIG.1). Content presentation server 416 may have a similar configuration touser equipment 300 (e.g., the content presentation server 416 mayinclude I/O path 302 and control circuitry 304 including storage 308 andprocessing circuitry 306), although the content presentation server maynot include a user input interface, a display, or speakers. The servermay store and execute various software modules (e.g., the contentpresentation application), which may be stored in storage of the serverand executed via processing circuitry of the server, for implementingthe content presentation functionality of the system 400. In someembodiments, media content source 420, advertisement content database422, and user profile information database 424 may communicate directlywith user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 via communication paths(not shown).

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a content presentation application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or awireless user communications device 406. For example, user televisionequipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 404 may, like some user television equipment 402,include a tuner allowing for access to television programming. Thecontent presentation application may have the same layout on variousdifferent types of user equipment or may be tailored to the displaycapabilities of the user equipment. For example, on user computerequipment 404, the content presentation application may be provided as aweb site accessed by a web browser. In another example, the contentpresentation application may be scaled down for wireless usercommunications devices 406.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communicationsdevice 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 602-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

Media content source 420 may include one or more types of contentdistribution equipment including a television distribution facility,cable system headend, satellite distribution facility, programmingsources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.),intermediate distribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers,on-demand media servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademarkowned by the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademarkowned by the American Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademarkowned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Media content source 420 may be theoriginator of content (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcastprovider, etc.) or may not be the originator of content (e.g., anon-demand content provider, an Internet provider of content of broadcastprograms for downloading, etc.). Media content source 420 may includecable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internetproviders, over-the-top content providers, or other providers ofcontent. Media content source 420 may also include a remote media serverused to store different types of content (including video contentselected by a user), in a location remote from any of the user equipmentdevices.

Content presentation applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, thecontent presentation application may be implemented as software or a setof executable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, andexecuted by control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, content presentation applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, content presentation applications may be implemented partiallyas a client application on control circuitry 304 of user equipmentdevice 300 and partially on a remote server as a server application(e.g., content presentation server 416) running on control circuitry ofthe remote server. When executed by control circuitry of the remoteserver (such as content presentation server 416), the contentpresentation application may instruct the control circuitry to insertauxiliary content (e.g., an advertisement) prior to or during desiredcontent, and/or skipping functionality (e.g., as in the examples ofFIGS. 1A-1B) or delay functionality (e.g., as in the examples of FIG.2). The server application may instruct the control circuitry of thecontent presentation server 416 to transmit data for storage on the userequipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry of thereceiving user equipment to provide skipping functionality (e.g., as inthe examples of FIGS. 1A-1B) or delay functionality (e.g., as in theexamples of FIG. 2).

Content and/or media player data delivered to user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia player data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaplayer data, providers of OTT content can distribute contentpresentation applications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-basedapplications), or the content can be displayed by content presentationapplications stored on the user equipment device.

Media player system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content may communicate with each other for the purposeof accessing content and presenting skipping and delay functionality(e.g., in the examples of FIGS. 1A-1B and FIG. 2). The embodimentsdescribed herein may be applied in any one or a subset of theseapproaches, or in a system employing other approaches for deliveringcontent and providing skip or delay functionality.

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process of presenting aselectable option to skip presentation of a current media asset andstart presentation of a next media asset, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 500 may be executed by controlcircuitry 304 (e.g., in a manner instructed to control circuitry 304 bythe content presentation application). Control circuitry 304 may be partof user equipment (e.g., a device that may have any or all of thefunctionality of user television equipment 402, user computer equipment404, and/or wireless communications device 406), or of contentpresentation server 416 separated from the user equipment by way ofcommunication network 414, or distributed over a combination of both. Inaddition, one or more steps of process 500 may be incorporated into orcombined with one or more steps of any other process or embodiment(e.g., process 600 of FIG. 6, process 700 of FIG. 7, process 800 of FIG.8).

At step 502, control circuitry 304 may receive selection of a mediaasset from a user (e.g., media asset 102 of FIG. 1A). At step 504,control circuitry 304 may generate an advertisement for presentation(e.g., retrieved from advertisement content database 112 of FIG. 1A). Atstep 506, during presentation of the advertisement content (e.g.,advertisement content 110 of FIG. 1A), the control circuitry maydetermine (e.g., based on input received via user input interface 310 ofFIG. 3) whether a user response to the advertisement has been received.For example, the content presentation application may monitor activityof the user during presentation of the advertisement content anddetermine, based on the user activity (e.g., detected by camera 118,microphone 120, accelerometers, and/or biometric devices, etc.) whetherthe user activity is indicative of interest in the advertisement contentand thus whether a user is likely to be interested in the advertisementcontent. The advertisement may include various audio information (e.g.,catch phrases, jingles, songs, dialogues, etc.) and/or visualinformation (e.g., dance moves or athletic movements performed by actorsin the advertisement content). In some embodiments, the advertisementcontent may be associated with metadata (e.g., pre-generated and storedin advance, and/or provided to the content presentation application byan advertising provider), which includes, for example, lyrics and/ormusic details of audio in the advertisement (e.g., in the form ofinformation related to word string, word tone, word emphasis, wordduration) and/or details of various gestures of actors in theadvertisement content (e.g., body pose, relative positions, associatedmotions, etc.).

The content presentation application may determine whether the userresponse is indicative of interest in the advertisement content based onwhether the user response replicates a component (e.g., an audiocomponent or a visual component) of the advertisement content for apredetermined time period, or whether a user expresses joy or enthusiasmduring the presentation of the advertisement (e.g., for example, upondetecting that the user says “I love this ad!” aloud). For example, atthe start time of the advertisement content (e.g., advertisement content110 of FIG. 1A), an audio response of the user may be received by themicrophone 120. The content presentation application may transcribe theaudio response into a string of text (e.g., by any suitable automaticspeech recognition technique), or transcription of the audio response ofthe user may be achieved by external transcription services (e.g.,Amazon Transcribe by Amazon, Inc. of Seattle, Wash. and GoogleSpeech-to-Text by Google, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.). Thetranscribed text string may be compared to text included in metadataassociated with the advertisement content to determine whether there isa match. Additionally or alternatively, control circuitry 304 mayanalyze the audio response of the user to identify various acousticcharacteristics (e.g., word tone, word emphasis, word duration, voicealteration, volume, speed, etc.) related to the audio response of theuser. Such acoustic characteristics may be compared to the advertisementmetadata, which may include information on such acoustic characteristicsfor the advertisement content, to determine whether there is a match.

For example, control circuitry 304 (or transcription circuitry) mayanalyze the wave amplitude of the audio response of the user todetermine the volume at which the user spoke the voice search query,and/or analyze frequency data of the audio response to determine thepitch and tone of the voice search query. Control circuitry 304 mayisolate a portion of the audio response and determine the duration ofeach portion and/or compare each isolated portion of the audio responseto determine the relative level of emphasis placed on each word by theuser. As another example, an audio signature of the user (e.g.,associated with a user profile) may be compared to the audio response ofthe user to determine whether the user has altered his or her voice inthe audio response, and the altered voice may be used as a parameter tobe compared to metadata of the advertisement content.

The user response to visual components of the advertisement (e.g., posesor gestures, absolute and relative positions of various body parts,motion associated with pose, successive poses, etc., during presentationof the advertisement content) at step 506 may be detected using camera118. For example, to determine gesture and/or pose information of theuser, image processing methods such as object recognition, facialrecognition, edge detection, or any other suitable image processingmethod may be utilized to identify portions of the user's body anddetermine positions of the identified portions (e.g., in a coordinateplane). Such gesture and/or pose information of the user may be comparedto metadata (e.g., gesture of pose information related to an actor inthe advertisement content) associated with the advertisement content.

At step 508, upon detecting a user response to the advertisement, thecontrol circuitry may determine whether the detected user responsematches (e.g., sufficiently mimics or imitates) the advertisementcontent for a predetermined period of time. For example, the contentpresentation application may compare the user response (e.g., the audioand/or visual response of the user to the advertisement) to the metadataof the advertisement to determine whether there is a match. In someembodiments, the content presentation application may compute a scorebased on the comparison, and determine that there is a match based onwhether the score exceeds a predetermined threshold. Control circuitry304 may also determine whether there is a match for a sufficient periodof time. For example, if the user has continuously (or in someembodiments, non-continuously) mimicked the advertisement content for apredetermined period of time (e.g., the user has mimicked theadvertisement over 50% of the elapsed time of the advertisement contentfrom the start of such content), control circuitry 304 may determinethat there is a match. On the other hand, if the user mimics theadvertisement content for onlya short period of time (e.g., the first10% of the elapsed time of the advertisement), processing may continueat step 514.

At step 514, in a case that the control circuitry has not detected auser response to the advertisement content, the control circuitry maydetermine whether a predetermined time period has elapsed from thebeginning of the advertisement content (e.g., 5 seconds). If thepredefined time period has not yet elapsed, control circuitry 304 maykeep checking for a user response to the advertisement content at step506. At step 516, if the predetermined time period has elapsed, controlcircuitry 304 may generate for presentation the option to skip theadvertisement content, since the lack of a user response may indicate tocontrol circuitry 304 that the user is not likely to be interested inthe advertisement content. At step 518, if control circuitry 304receives user selection of the option to skip the advertisement, suchselection causes, at step 520, the presentation of the advertisement toend, and control circuitry 304 starts presentation of the selected mediacontent (e.g., media asset 102 in FIG. 1A).

At step 510, after determining that the user response matches theadvertisement metadata for the predetermined period of time, controlcircuitry 304 may determine that the user is likely to be interested inthe advertisement. Thus, control circuitry 304 may refrain fromgenerating for presentation the option to skip the advertisement for theremainder of the advertisement content and present the entireadvertisement to the user. As another example, a decision whether topresent the skip ad button may be based on whether the user expressesjoy or enthusiasm during the presentation of the advertisement (e.g.,based on a detected vocal and/or physical response by the user to theadvertisement). Accordingly, such option may be presented upondetermining that the user is not likely to be interested in theadvertisement content (and thus is less likely to pay attention to theadvertisement). On the other hand, in a circumstance where the user isenjoying the advertisement, unnecessary or inadvertent skipping of theadvertisement content can be avoided by refraining from presenting theoption to skip the advertisement. For example, a situation can beavoided where the option to skip the advertisement content is selectedinadvertently, such as by force of habit, and only later does the userrealize that the advertisement was of interest.

At step 512, if the option to skip the advertisement is either notenabled or not selected, control circuitry 304 may wait until theadvertisement content ends, and, upon determining that the advertisementcontent ends, present the selected media content at step 520 (e.g.,selected media asset 102 in FIG. 1A).

Additionally or alternatively to monitoring the user response to theadvertisement, the control circuitry may access user profile information114 to determine whether the user is likely to be interested in theadvertisement. The user profile information 114 may indicate what typeof content the user is likely to find interesting (e.g., certainautomobile companies, or a trailer for action movies). Based on suchinformation, control circuitry 304 may determine whether an option toskip an advertisement (e.g., option 116 in FIG. 1A) should be presentedto the user. For example, if a current media asset relates to thecontent included in the user profile information (e.g., a commercial foran automobile company specified in the profile of the user), the optionto skip the advertisement may not be generated for presentation. On theother hand, if the current media asset is unrelated to information inthe user profile, viewing history, or other retrieved informationassociated with the user, the skip advertisement button may be generatedfor presentation (e.g., after a predetermined period of time elapsesfrom the start of the advertisement content). As another example, in thecase of multi-part advertisements, if a user previously enjoyed a firstpart of an ad, the content presentation application may determine thatthe user is likely to enjoy a second part of the advertisement, and thusmay refrain from presenting the skip ad option during the second part ofthe multi-part advertisement.

In some embodiments, an artificial intelligence system (e.g., machinelearning model) may be utilized to predict, based on past viewinghistory of the user, whether the user is likely to be interested in theadvertisement content (or a portion thereof). For example, based on aprobability output by the machine learning model, the selectable optionto skip advertisement content may be shown after a certain portion ofthe advertisement content has ended (e.g., if the probability of theuser being interested in the next portion is below a predeterminedthreshold), or the selectable option may not be shown at all (e.g., ifthe probability of the user being interested in any of the advertisementcontent is above a predetermined threshold). The machine learning modelmay be trained based on past history of whether the user was interestedin the same or similar advertisements.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process of presenting aselectable option to skip presentation of a current media asset andstart presentation of a next media asset, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 600 may be executed by controlcircuitry 304 (e.g., in a manner instructed to control circuitry 304 bythe content presentation application). Control circuitry 304 may be partof user equipment (e.g., a device that may have any or all of thefunctionality of user television equipment 402, user computer equipment404, and/or wireless communications device 406), or of contentpresentation server 416 separated from the user equipment by way ofcommunication network 414, or distributed over a combination of both. Inaddition, one or more steps of process 600 may be incorporated into orcombined with one or more steps of any other process or embodiment(e.g., process 500 of FIG. 5, process 700 of FIG. 7, process 800 of FIG.8).

At step 602, control circuitry 304 may generate for presentation a mediaasset (e.g., an episode of the television series “Seinfeld,” as shown inthe example of FIG. 1). The media asset may alternatively be any mediaasset comprising multiple segments (e.g., a news show includingheadlines, detailed news reports, weather forecast, etc., or a sportsshow including highlights of a sports game, a discussion of the sportsgame, a discussion of an upcoming sports game, etc.).

At step 604, control circuitry 304 may retrieve a profile associatedwith the user. The profile may include a viewing history of the user(e.g., whether the user previously skipped the same or similar segmentsof the same or similar media assets). At step 606, control circuitry 304may identify a current segment being presented to the user. For example,the control circuitry 304 may determine (e.g., based on metadataassociated with the media asset) that the current segment corresponds toa particular portion of the media asset (e.g., a stand-up portion of aparticular episode of “Seinfeld” in the example of FIG. 1A).

At step 608, control circuitry 304 may determine (e.g., based on theviewing history) whether the user is not likely to be interested in acurrent segment. This determination may be made based on whether theuser has previously skipped the current segment (e.g., if the userpreviously watched the same media asset) and/or whether the userpreviously skipped a similar segment (e.g., in a different episode ofthe same series, or a similar series). Alternatively, control circuitry304 may monitor activity of the user during the current session ofconsuming the current media asset. For example, if the user hasconsistently skipped (e.g., fast-forwarded through) particular segmentsof the current media asset (e.g., where a musical performance isperformed by a character in the media asset), control circuitry 304 maydetect whether a current scene of the media asset is similar to suchskipped portions (and processing may continue to step 610 or step 612 inthis instance). On the other hand, if no such segments exist in theviewing history of the user, processing may return to step 606 wherecontrol circuitry 304 may continue to monitor the presentation positionin the media asset for such a segment.

At step 610, control circuitry 304 may, in some embodiments, determinewhether the current segment is the last segment of the media asset(e.g., other than the closing credits). For example, in the example ofFIG. 1B, control circuitry 304 may determine that the stand-up act 126is the last scene prior to the credits (e.g., based on metadata of themedia asset), and processing may proceed to step 612. As anotherexample, a media asset may have 3 storylines (e.g., SL1, SL2, SL3) withscenes from each of them interleaved, and if while watching the program,scenes from SL2 were skipped by the user, this may indicate that user isnot interested in segments with SL2. Thus, if a scene from SL2 happensto be the last segment of the program, the system may determine thatsegment is not likely to be of interest to the user.

At step 612, the control circuitry may generate for presentation to auser, upon determining that the current segment is the last segment ofthe media asset prior to the closing credits, a selectable option (e.g.,option 125 in FIG. 1B) to skip to a next media asset (e.g., the nextepisode in a series, or a media asset having similar characteristics tothe current media asset). Such feature may enable a seamless transitionto the next episode or similar media asset, upon determining the user isnot likely to be interested in the current segment (e.g., and theremainder of the episode). In some embodiments, voice input from theuser (e.g., detected by a microphone) can trigger the up-nextfunctionality, or selection of the option (e.g., via remote control or atouch screen display) can trigger the up-next functionality.

At step 614, the control circuitry may determine whether the option totrigger the up-next functionality has been received, or whether acountdown associated with the functionality has elapsed.

At step 616, if selection of the option is received, or selection of thecountdown expires (e.g., a 10-second countdown in the example of FIG.1), control circuitry 304 may stop presentation of the current mediaasset and begin presentation of the next media asset. Accordingly,up-next functionality may be dynamically triggered based on user'spreferences or user history. In some embodiments, an affirmativeresponse or permission from the user may be required in order to triggerthe up-next functionality (e.g., there may be no countdown, orexpiration of the countdown without user selection may not be sufficientto trigger the up-next functionality).

At step 618, the control circuitry may determine that the user is stillinterested in the current segment and present the remainder of thecurrent media asset. For example, a response may be required from theuser to trigger the up-next functionality (e.g., if the countdownexpires without receiving user selection of the selectable option, theup-next functionality may not be triggered), or the user may stop theup-next functionality from occurring (via voice input, such as “Ignore”or by selecting the “cancel” option shown in the example of FIG. 1).

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process of scheduling anaction to occur at a later second time within the presentation of amedia asset, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.Process 700 may be executed by control circuitry 304 (e.g., in a mannerinstructed to control circuitry 304 by the content presentationapplication). Control circuitry 304 may be part of user equipment (e.g.,a device that may have any or all of the functionality of usertelevision equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and/or wirelesscommunications device 406), or of content presentation server 416separated from the user equipment by way of communication network 414,or distributed over a combination of both. In addition, one or moresteps of process 700 may be incorporated into or combined with one ormore steps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., process 500 of FIG.5, process 600 of FIG. 6, process 800 of FIG. 8).

At step 702, control circuitry 304 may generate for presentation a mediaasset (e.g., media asset 201 shown in the example of FIG. 2) to a user.At step 704, control circuitry 304 may retrieve advertisement content(e.g., content 203 in FIG. 2) to be presented to the user, and at step706, control circuitry 304 may define a first time (e.g., time 204,included in time range or time interval 208 within the presentation ofthe media asset 201) at which the advertisement is scheduled to occur.Such process is discussed in more detail in FIG. 8.

At step 708, control circuitry 304 may monitor the presentation of thecurrent media asset and determine that a current presentation position(e.g., presentation position 202 in FIG. 2) is approaching the firsttime. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine that the currentpresentation position is within a predetermined time period (e.g., 20seconds) of the first time.

At step 710, upon determining that the current presentation position iswithin the predetermined time period of the first time, controlcircuitry 304 may generate for presentation an option to delay theaction (e.g., option 205 to delay presentation of the advertisementcontent). For example, as shown in FIG. 2, selectable option 205 may bepresented to the user, to provide an opportunity for delaying orpostponing the advertisement content for a specified delay time (e.g.,so that the presentation of the current media asset to the user is notinterrupted, such as during a scene of the media asset that the user isengaged or invested in and may not want to be interrupted). In someembodiments, a countdown may be generated for presentation, to indicateto the user that the advertisement will be presented in a specifiedamount of time, unless the user elects to delay the advertisement.

At step 712, control circuitry 304 may receive selection of the optionto delay the action. Such selection may be received in a variety of ways(e.g., via remote control, via voice input, via a touch screen display,etc.).

At step 714, upon receiving selection of the option to delay the action,the content presentation application may schedule the advertisement tooccur at a later second time (e.g., at time 207 within the predefinedtime interval 208). For example, as shown on the display screen in thebottom right of FIG. 2, upon receiving user selection to delay theadvertisement, the current presentation position 202 may proceed pastthe first time 204, without presenting the advertisement content, andthe advertisement may be scheduled to occur at the second time 207. Insome embodiments, if a delay time associated with the selectable optionexceeds the amount of time remaining in the time interval (e.g., timeinterval 208 in FIG. 2), the user may not be permitted to delay theadvertisement, and the advertisement may be played at the current time,or the presentation of the advertisement may be delayed until the end ofthe time interval (e.g., cutoff point 206 in FIG. 2). If the user delaysthe action until the end of the time interval, the action mayautomatically be performed at the end of the time interval.

At step 718, the advertisement content may be presented at the scheduledsecond time. In some embodiments, the user may be presented with anoption to further delay the action, past the second time, to a laterthird time. The third time may still be within the time interval (e.g.,time interval 208 in FIG. 2). In some embodiments, if the delay timeexceeds the amount of time remaining in the time interval, the user maynot be permitted to delay the advertisement, and the advertisement maybe played at the current time. Alternatively, the presentation of theadvertisement may be delayed until the end of the time interval (e.g.,without providing the user with an opportunity to further delay theadvertisement). An appropriate message may be displayed (e.g., “Adscannot be delayed beyond this point” or “Ads cannot be delayed anyfurther”) in order to notify the user.

In some embodiments, the option to delay the action may be presented tothe user no more than a predetermined number of times, and/or the usermay lose an opportunity to skip a subsequent advertisement each time theoption to delay the advertisement is selected. Further, each time theoption to delay the action is selected by the user, control circuitry304 may determine that the length of the action (e.g., the advertisementinterrupting the presentation of the media asset) should become longer.In some embodiments, the more that an advertiser pays to the media assetprovider for the right to present advertisements during media content,the longer the duration of the advertisement may be, and/or the shorterthe delay times may be. In addition, the user may be charged a certainprice in order to skip an advertisement, and the advertiser may be paida portion of such price to compensate for lost revenue associated withskipping the advertisement. In some aspects of this disclosure, controlcircuitry 304 may identify the moments within the runtime intervallikely to be of highest interest to the user, and delay theadvertisement content to a next-highest-interest moment each time aselection to delay or further delay the advertisement content isreceived.

At step 716, if selection of the option is not received (e.g., prior tothe end of the countdown), the advertisement may be presented at thescheduled first time (e.g., time 204 in FIG. 2). In some embodiments,multiple advertisements (e.g., related or unrelated) may be shownconsecutively at the scheduled time. In some aspects of this disclosure,multiple actions (e.g., presentation of multiple advertisements) may bescheduled within the presentation of the media asset at respectivemutually exclusive runtime intervals. The control circuitry may performthe processing in FIG. 7 for each of such multiple advertisements at therespective runtime intervals, until either all of the runtime intervalsexpire, or if the media content presentation is canceled by the user(e.g., prior to presenting all or the media content).

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process of scheduling oneor more actions to occur within the presentation of a media asset, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 800 may beperformed by the content presentation application (e.g., executed bycontrol circuitry 304, such as in a manner instructed to controlcircuitry 304 by the content presentation application). Controlcircuitry 304 may be part of user equipment (e.g., a device that mayhave any or all of the functionality of user television equipment 402,user computer equipment 404, and/or wireless communications device 406),or of content presentation server 416 separated from the user equipmentby way of communication network 414, or distributed over a combinationof both. In addition, one or more steps of process 800 may beincorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment (e.g., process 500 of FIG. 5, process 600 of FIG.6, process 700 of FIG. 7).

At step 802, the content presentation application (e.g., executed bycontrol circuitry 304 of content presentation server 416 of FIG. 4and/or control circuitry of a user equipment device) may determine theruntime of a current media asset and divide such runtime of the mediaasset into mutually exclusive segments. For example, the segments of themedia asset (e.g., video segments) may be divided up based on a schemenot based on the media asset content (e.g., based on time periods orrandomly, or based on one or more of the following content features:story line or subject of the segment, characters and/or objects includedin the segment, background of the segment, audio, music, or annotationsof the segment, acting quality of the segment, cinematic quality of thesegment, amount of details in the segment, etc. Such content featuresmay be identified based on metadata associated with the current mediaasset and/or any suitable image or audio processing techniques.

At step 804, the content presentation application may identify mutuallyexclusive, discrete runtime intervals corresponding to the segment-wisedivision of the current media asset. For example, one or more respectiveactions (e.g., the presentation of advertisement content, such asadvertisement content 203 in FIG. 2) may be scheduled to occur withineach respective runtime interval, at a beginning of each respectiveinterval. In some embodiments, the segments may be sorted from a lowestruntime interval length to a highest runtime interval length, from thebeginning of the media asset to the end of the media asset.

At step 806, the content presentation application may identity the userconsuming the current media asset. For example, the content presentationapplication may identity the interests of the user (e.g., based on aviewing history or profile of the user), and adjust the time intervalsand/or division of segments based on the identified user interests.Alternatively, the content presentation application may determine theinterests of the user prior to steps 802 and 804, and divide thesegments and define the runtime intervals based on such identified userinterests.

At step 808, the content presentation application may compute aprobability that the user is likely to consume the advertisement contentduring a runtime interval of the one or more runtime intervals. In someembodiments, the probability may be computed based on a comparisonbetween the interests of the user (e.g., as identified based on the userprofile or user viewing history) and the features of each of the dividedsegments.

At step 810, the content presentation application may determine whetherthe probability exceeds a predetermined threshold. If the contentpresentation application determines that the probability exceeds thepredetermined threshold, processing may proceed to step 812. If thecontent presentation application determines that the probability doesnot exceed the predetermined threshold, the content presentationapplication may determine that no advertisement content should bepresented at the particular runtime interval. Rather, processing mayreturn to step 808 and the content presentation application may wait forthe next runtime interval, and calculate a new probability that the useris likely to view the advertisement content during such next runtimeinterval. Such process may be continued until the end of the mediaasset, or until there are no more runtime intervals left in thepresentation of the media asset.

At step 812, the content presentation application may retrieveadvertisement content (e.g., from an advertisement content database), inresponse to determining that the computed probability exceeds thepredetermined threshold. At step 814, the advertisement content may beinserted at the starting time point of the runtime interval. At thispoint, the content presentation application may perform the processingthat begins at step 708 of FIG. 7 (e.g., determine whether the currentpresentation position is approaching such starting time point of theruntime interval). In some embodiments, a runtime interval may beinserted at the start of the presentation of the current media asset.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIGS. 5-8 may beused with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, thedescriptions described in relation to the algorithm of FIGS. 5-8 may bedone in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes ofthis disclosure. For example, conditional statements and logicalevaluations may be performed in any order or in parallel orsimultaneously to reduce lag or increase the speed of the system ormethod. As a further example, in some embodiments, several instances ofa variable may be evaluated in parallel, using multiple logicalprocessor threads, or the algorithm may be enhanced by incorporatingbranch prediction. Furthermore, it should be noted that the processes ofFIGS. 5-8 may be implemented on a combination of appropriatelyconfigured software and hardware, and that any of the devices orequipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 1-4 could be used to implementone or more portions of the process.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted that the systems and/or methods described above may be appliedto, or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

1. A method of managing presentation of content, the method comprising:generating for presentation a current media asset prior to generatingfor presentation a media asset selected by a user; identifying userinformation related to the current media asset; determining, based onthe user information, whether the presentation of the current mediaasset is not likely to be of interest to the user; in response todetermining that the presentation of the current media asset is notlikely to be of interest to the user, generating for presentation aselectable option to skip presentation of the current media asset andstart presentation of the selected media asset; and in response toreceiving selection of the selectable option, generating forpresentation the selected media asset.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinidentifying the user information comprises monitoring activity of theuser during the presentation of the current media asset, and determiningwhether the presentation of the current media asset is not likely to beof interest to the user is performed based on the monitored activity ofthe user.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receivingselection of a desired media asset, wherein: the desired media asset isthe selected media asset; the current media asset is advertisementcontent; monitoring activity of the user during the presentation of thecurrent media asset comprises receiving, during the presentation of theadvertisement content, a user response to the advertisement content;determining whether the presentation of the current media asset is notlikely to be of interest to the user comprises determining whether theuser response is indicative of interest in the advertisement content;and wherein the method further comprises: in response to determiningthat the user response is indicative of interest in the advertisementcontent, refraining from generating for presentation the option that isselectable to skip the presentation of the advertisement content andstart the presentation of the desired media asset.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, wherein determining whether the user response is indicative ofinterest in the advertisement content comprises determining whether theuser response replicates a component of the advertisement content for apredetermined time period.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein: theadvertisement content is associated with metadata; and determiningwhether the user response replicates the component of the advertisementcontent comprises comparing the user response to the metadata.
 6. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the component of the advertisement content isat least one of an audio component or a visual component, and the userresponse is at least one of gestures or poses performed in response tothe advertisement content or an audio response to the advertisementcontent.
 7. The method of claim 2, further comprising: monitoringactivity of the user during the presentation of the et rent selectedmedia asset by determining whether a segment of the selected media assethas been skipped during a current session of the presentation of theselected media asset; determining whether the presentation of theselected media asset is not likely to be of interest to the user bydetermining whether a portion of the presentation of the selected mediaasset is not likely to be of interest to the user; determining whetherthe portion of the presentation of the selected media asset is notlikely to be of interest to the user by determining whether a currentpresentation position is associated with a segment similar to thepreviously skipped segment; and generating for presentation a selectableoption to skip presentation of the selected media asset and startpresentation of a next media asset in response to determining that thecurrent presentation position is associated with the segment similar tothe previously skipped segment.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: identifying the user information by retrieving a profile ofthe user; determining whether the presentation of the selected mediaasset is not likely to be of interest to the user by determining whethera portion of the presentation of the selected media asset is not likelyto be of interest to the user; and determining whether the portion ofthe presentation of the selected media asset is not likely to be ofinterest to the user is performed based on the retrieved profile.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein: the retrieved profile includes viewinghistory of a user, and wherein the determining whether the portion ofthe presentation of the selected media asset is not likely to be ofinterest to the user comprises determining, based on the viewing historyof the user, whether a current presentation position is not likely to beof interest to the user.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the viewinghistory of the user comprises: viewing history of at least one of theselected media asset or a media asset similar to the selected mediaasset; and a presentation position within the selected media asset orthe similar media asset at which presentation was previously skipped.11. A system of managing presentation of content, the system comprising:control circuitry configured to: generate for presentation a currentmedia asset prior to generating for presentation a media asset selectedby a user; identify user information related to the current media asset;determine, based on the user information, whether the presentation ofthe current media asset is not likely to be of interest to the user; inresponse to determining that the presentation of the current media assetis not likely to be of interest to the user, generate for presentation aselectable option to skip presentation of the current media asset andstart presentation of the selected media asset; and in response toreceiving selection of the selectable option, generate for presentationthe selected media asset.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein thecontrol circuitry is configured to, in identifying the user information,monitor activity of the user during the presentation of the currentmedia asset, and determine whether the presentation of the current mediaasset is not likely to be of interest to the user is performed based onthe monitored activity of the user.
 13. The system of claim 12, whereinthe control circuitry is further configured to receive selection of adesired media asset, wherein: the desired media asset is the selectedmedia asset; the current media asset is advertisement content; thecontrol circuitry is configured to, in monitoring activity of the userduring the presentation of the current media asset, receive, during thepresentation of the advertisement content, a user response to theadvertisement content; the control circuitry is configured to, indetermining whether the presentation of the current media asset is notlikely to be of interest to the user, determine whether the userresponse is indicative of interest in the advertisement content; andwherein the control circuitry is further configured to: in response todetermining that the user response is indicative of interest in theadvertisement content, refrain from generating for presentation theoption that is selectable to skip the presentation of the advertisementcontent and start the presentation of the desired media asset.
 14. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the control circuitry is configured to, indetermining whether the user response is indicative of interest in theadvertisement content, determine whether the user response replicates acomponent of the advertisement content for a predetermined time period.15. The system of claim 14, wherein the advertisement content isassociated with metadata; and the control circuitry is configured to, indetermining whether the user response replicates the component of theadvertisement content, compare the user response to the metadata. 16.The system of claim 14, wherein the component of the advertisementcontent is at least one of an audio component or a visual component, andthe user response is at least one of gestures or poses performed inresponse to the advertisement content or an audio response to theadvertisement content.
 17. The system of claim 12, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to: monitor activity of the user duringthe presentation of the selected media asset by determining whether asegment of the selected media asset has been skipped during a currentsession of the presentation of the selected media asset; determinewhether the presentation of the selected media asset is not likely to beof interest to the user by determining whether a portion of thepresentation of the selected media asset is not likely to be of interestto the user; determine whether the portion of the presentation of theselected media asset is not likely to be of interest to the user bydetermining whether a current presentation position is associated with asegment similar to the previously skipped segment; and generate forpresentation a selectable option to skip presentation of the selectedmedia asset and start presentation of a next media asset in response todetermining that the current presentation position is associated withthe segment similar to the previously skipped segment.
 18. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:identify the user information by retrieving a profile of the user;determine whether the presentation of the selected media asset is notlikely to be of interest to the user by determining whether a portion ofthe presentation of the selected media asset is not likely to be ofinterest to the user; and perform the determining of whether the portionof the presentation of the selected media asset is not likely to be ofinterest to the user based on the retrieved profile.
 19. The system ofclaim 18, wherein: the retrieved profile includes viewing history of auser, and wherein the control circuitry is configured to, in determiningwhether the portion of the presentation of the selected media asset isnot likely to be of interest to the user, determine, based on theviewing history of the user, whether a current presentation position isnot likely to be of interest to the user.
 20. The system of claim 19,wherein the viewing history of the user comprises: viewing history of atleast one of the selected media asset or a media asset similar to theselected media asset; and a presentation position within the selectedmedia asset or the similar media asset at which presentation waspreviously skipped.